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Crêpes

I’ve had a love affair with crêpes since I was a little girl, which is when I learned how to make them. I would make a “stack,” sprinkle a little white sugar on them, and eat them just like that for breakfast.

My first introduction to crêpes was when my mother made Crêpes Suzette. My French friend Stéphane from My French Heaven gave me some interesting factoids about this fabulous, flaming dessert and crêpes in general!

♥ Crèpes Suzette is a recent thing: In the early 1900’s, Edward VI was having crêpes in a restaurant on the riviera. The chef had flambéed Grand Marnier with them. Edward asked the waitress what it was but she didn’t have a name for the dish. So the king asked what her name was, which was Suzette. They have been called crêpes Suzette ever since.

♥ As for savory crêpes, they are an ancient specialty from Bretagne. They are made with black wheat and are called galettes. Only the sweet ones can be called crêpes.

A galette with ham and egg

♥ You eat crêpes with apple cider always as they produce a lot of apples there (Bretagne is close to Normandy).

♥ The restaurants where they serve crêpes only are called crêperies. The best ones have a chef who is a Maître Crêpier.

Photo from Bretagne by Stephane Gabart

After seeing the above photo, I put Bretagne on my travel bucket list. Besides, I want to one day try the real deal in a crêperie.

There are many different recipes for crêpe batter, and I’m sure they’re all good. The only rule in making the batter for crêpes, to me, is the consistency. Once you have that, you get proper crêpes. If the batter is too thick, you get pancakes, if it’s too thin, you get mush.

Here is a basic recipe for crêpes, whether you’re going to use them in a sweet or savory manner:

Whisk together the egg, milk, and salt together well in a medium bowl. Gradually add the flour, whisking gently but not over-whisking, until it is all incorporated and there are no flour lumps.

Set the bowl aside for at least 5 minutes to make sure it doesn’t thicken. If it does, add a tiny bit of milk or even water to get the consistency back to where it should be.

To prepare to make the crêpes, have a well-seasoned crêpe pan on hand. Mine has angled sides and an 8″ flat bottom, made from steel. I’ve had it for 42 years. I know this, because my mother sent me off to college with the same pan!

Also have on hand some butter, the batter and large spoon (about 1/4 cup capacity is perfect), a spatula, and a plate on which to place the cooked crêpes. I always use a very sturdy but thin, flat spatula to help lift the thin pancakes.

Heat a little dab of butter over medium-high heat in the crêpe pan. I personally prefer butter because of the flavor. You might have to start with about a teaspoon of butter, and subsequently use about 1/2 teaspoon per crêpe.

Before starting, give the crêpe batter a whisk. Now is the time to test its thickness. Add a little liquid if necessary.

When the butter is hot, add a full spoonful, or approximately 1/4 cup of batter, to the pan. With the other hand, turn and tilt the pan until the crêpe batter has covered the whole bottom of the pan. Cook for no more than 30 seconds, then turn over gently with the spatula and cook for no more than 10 seconds. Place immediately on the plate by sliding or flipping over.

The cooked crêpe should be lightly golden, especially on the first side, but not browned. Adjust your burner setting accordingly, keeping in mind that if the heat is too low, the batter will just sit there and nothing will happen.

The pan has to be hot enough to “grab” the batter. If the pan is too hot, it will cause the batter to become bubbly and you probably won’t be able to spread it around. Sometimes the first crêpe is a dud because you must test the heat of the pan, and the batter.

Continue with the remaining batter.
These crêpes will hold well for a day or two, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator. Then you can use them as you want. They must be brought to room temperature first, or they will not roll or fold without breaking. Even a little heating in the microwave will help make them more malleable.
Besides some sugar, crêpes are also good with a little jam and some berries!

* When I make savory or sweet crêpes I use olive oil, but if you prefer, you can use a flavorless oil. Also, if you want a sweeter dessert crêpe, you can add a little sugar to the batter.

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105 thoughts on “Crêpes”

These look perfect! I’m a crepe girl too, but not the expert that you are, Mimi. I’m very new to them.. like just a couple years new. Thank you so much for sharing this…you’ve inspired me to learn how to make them! <3 Delicious.

I’ve been making sweet and savory crepes for a long time – I have 3 out of 5 recipes posted already. I love them too and all the recipes you can make using them. Any time I made any crepes Gene always expected a couple extra so he could make his Crepes Suzette. He created his own dessert :)

Mimi, I love your photos and your crepes. Your crepe pan is week seasoned. I had the good fortune to spend a week in Bretagne this summer. It was special and I hope you get to go soon. Have a great week.

you learn something new every day… well, more like 20 new things just by reading your post It’s pretty awesome. I had no idea about the names or the flour choice. I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper savoury crepe then. Every restaurant I’ve had them, they are made with AP flour. I gotta try this. Thanks so much for this link! There are many creperies around here in Vancouver but those too like they are made with AP flour. I’ll investigate :)

unfortunately i forget more than what i learn on a daily basis! So savory crepes are really galettes, which i never knew, but i only grew up with sweet crepes (french mother). I first had buckwheat groats in the 70’s when i was in college – it was hippy food, and i didn’t like it back then or now. but as i said, when cut with AP, it’s good. I’m really fine with crepes as we both make, them though.

some pies are also called galettes right? this is so confusing! My mom was born in France but she was very little to bring any french cooking culture into the family. My grandma was from the basque country. She was an amazing cook. She made galettes with AP flour. That’s probably the only flour one could find in Venezuela. My family moved from France to Venezuela during WWII.

oh this is interesting. that’s how you were born there! wish you had a bio on your blog! and yes, a galette is the rustic pie crust with fruits, with the crust folded over. do you follow stephane’s blog? it’s myfrenchheaven.com. i’ll be visiting him soon for the third time, and his blog is my favorite. he can explain such things. in fact, i think i’ll email him about that. it is confusing.

I was born in Venezuela, in Caracas… where pretty much all Venezuelans are born. I do follow Stephane :) And follow his instagram too. There is a bio on my blog but it’s not very visible. Let me see if I can send you the link. It’s pretty old and not a lot of info on it. I also need a better photo hahahaha

funny, cause i’d just looked again and didn’t find it! thanks, i’ll check you out! Love the old photo – I’m assuming that’s you! I did email Stephane, so we’ll find out what the confusion is all about!!!

hahaha, yeah, that’s me and that’s my actual age ;) I’ll create an about link on the side menu. It’s not there, you have to click on that share icon, that’s where I have the link now… not very clever of me.

great bio! Now I know what you mean about the photo. I’m a little nuts about bios – i love knowing something about the person behind the blog. on some blogs, you don’t even know if it’s a male or female! It drives me so crazy that i wrote a post on this subject, and a few people added profile photos to their names!! I loved that!http://chefmimiblog.com/2014/08/21/a-slight-rant/

YUM! True story: My daughter forsook crepes because the first ones she tried were on an airplane and contained ricotta and raisins. I made her try a crepe when we went to Paris and she has never looked back since.

Thanks for a wonderful tutorial on how to make crepes Mimi, I love your pan. I’m lucky enough to spend 6 months a year in Bretagne and I love visiting our local creperie for a galette, they are so delicious.

Oh I love, love LOVE crepes! I’m so glad that you wrote about them because I used to make them all the time but just haven’t for ages. I’ve been trying to come up with something other than the same old, same old and I think I’ve found the solution. Now I’m going to have to go through my oldest recipes to try to find this seafood crepe that I used to make that was fabulous. I’m pretty sure it had scallops in it but that’s about all I remember – except that it was at least 25 years ago (I can remember making it in my old house … see how I remember things by associating?). At least that narrows down the possible files and cookbooks to maybe a half dozen.

I’m thinking there was something that gave it a very nice flavor – do you think it might have been thyme? Funny you mentioned fontina since I just got a call from my husband at the grocery store – “What’s Fontina?” That was for another recipe but since I’ve got it, what the heck!

I am so impressed! You made these perfect crepes when you were a little girl? Wow. I’ve always thought those thin, luscious crepes would be too difficult to make at home. But now you’ve given me plenty of tips, and I’m going to tackle them. Maybe for company this weekend. . . .after I’ve practiced of course.

I think one of the fun things about gourmet cooking is growing the courage to try new things. I wonder if the waitress Suzette possessed an inkling of how famous she would be come.
Thank you for inspiring me.
RuthAnn
inspiringcuisine.com

You really make me want to try these with my fresh blackberry jam! I am constantly silently annoyed that the locals call these pancakes and snub my fluffy buttermilk babies. Ah well.

Seafood crepes? Oh ya, must try that too.

My hubs just killed three of our chickens this week and I am so excited to try spatchcocking. He claims that is my new favourite word and insists it must be a cockeral not a hen, as the name implies that. Whatever. If it makes him happy then why not.

Such thin crepes are called blini in Russia, and I absolutely love them! They are perfect with any filling! I like your tip that you wrote above for Diane- to make white sauce and add fish. I usually just add cured or smoked salmon and cream cheese, but with some sauce on side crepes sound interesting; almost a new dish! :)